The Role of Biology Curricula in Promoting Sustainable Development Concepts Among Secondary School Students from Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

This study reviews how the secondary school biology curriculum in Al-Kharj region of Saudi Arabia is relevant to sustainable development through the lens of educators. A validated questionnaire of five dimensions – cognitive, economic, technological, social and environmental is used in surveying 142 randomly chosen biology teachers using a descriptive-analytical methodology. The results show that the level of applying the concepts of sustainable development is low with the average score of 1.45. The least important are the social factors, and the most important are the aspects related to technology. Teachers have pointed out that sustainability issues are inadequately addressed and rarely align with curriculum and teaching goals. The results indicate that the existing curriculum does not encourage the ability to think sustainably or prepare students with the necessary competencies, which may become an obstacle to achieving Saudi Vision 2030 and the global development goals. The report suggests updating the biology curriculum to explicitly inculcate the concepts of sustainability in all the realms, to equip the students with the ability to play their part in the social and environmental development.